The present invention relates to a pizza supporting and baking grid structure or pizza grill having a circumferentially continuous strengthened rim also facilitating cleaning thereof, as well as to the method of forming same.
Pizza grills are typically formed with a self-supporting metal screen of open mesh expanded metal construction which are surrounded by a wrap-around skirt or rim serving as edging for the screen and providing necessary structural support. The wrap-around skirt or rim is formed as a one-piece element where the opposite free ends thereof, after being wrapped around the screen, are secured by various fastening techniques including rivets, bolts, welds and other similar equivalent metal fastening systems. While such fastening techniques have worked well in mechanically locking the wrap-around skirt or rim into conformed relationship around the outer periphery of the screen, health official have become concerned because such fastening techniques, including the overlapped or interconnected free ends of the wrap-around skirt or rim, have various openings, ridges, fractured metal edges, and other deformations where food can be lodged or trapped. Also, metal pieces have detrimentally flaked off and have adulterated the pizza. As a result, the potential for food contamination, resulting in various physiological injury and intestinal ailments, has created the need for a new and improved product which does not have these inherent problems.
From an economical, manufacturing, and long term use standpoint, the current expanded metal screen with wrap-around skirts are simple and easy make and use, and are quite economical and long lasting. Yet, unless the health contamination problem can be overcome, these important advantages in such pizza grill constructions may be no longer available.
I have discovered a new and improved feature and related method of manufacture which can be incorporated into a wrap-around skirt or rim for metal screens in pizza grills, thereby retaining all of the advantages of such pizza grill constructions, while eliminating the aforementioned health and contamination problems.